A NEW-LOOK Caernarfon team crashed out of the Swalec Plate 28-5 at Nant Conwy on Saturday.

The heavy pitch was not conducive to open running rugby but for the neutral this was an entertaining open game. Small margins counted but the urgency and cohesion of the home pack ensured that this would be Nant’s day.

From the start Caernarfon were pinned in their own half and would have yielded an early score but for a knock-on.

After 15 minutes Nant struck when Carwyn Elis peeled from a line out, breached the defence and with quick recycled ball prop Elgan Jones was unstoppable from five meters and crashed over.

Carwyn ap Myrddin slotted the conversion and soon added to his points tally when he sprinted clear for a try he improved.

Caernarfon’s responses had been rare up to this point but direct running from the likes of Carnedd Williams had shown promise. Liam Leung and Sion Gwyn became prominent in the forward fight back with number eight Gareth Thirsk adding impetus to most forward charges. The Cofis played their best rugby by far at the beginning of the second half.

A loose Nant pass was seized upon by full-back Dylan Parry who hacked on and gathered.

Although brought down short, quick ball and a miss-pass freed wing Dylan Gwyn who squeezed in by the corner flag to put the Cofis on the scoreboard.

Another similar miss-pass released Dylan Gwyn once again and the resultant chip nearly brought a touchdown for centre Gwilym Jones who was also injured in the process.

The loss of Jones and Leung to injury disrupted the Cofi flow and Nant began exerting pressure with effective counter rucking adding to their possession tally. Nant found daylight when from a five-metre scrum a series of pickups and drives resulted in Carwyn Ellis emerging victorious and Carwyn ap Myrddin again adding the conversion.

The three-score gap created with 10 minutes remaining was too much for the Cofis to amend and Nant finished the stronger, repeating their relentless pick up and drives as directed by scrum-half Ifan Jones.

The urgency shown in the opposition 22 was justly rewarded when Eryl Jones spun free to ground and allow Carwyn ap another conversion.

Caernarfon can have no qualms regarding the result but would be a little disappointed at the margin of victory . The coaching staff will hope those on the injury list will return soon to bolster the squad at Mold on February 11.